I had my first lobster roll tonight. I tried to wait until I got home to eat it, but the toasty bread was just faintly warm under the crinkled aluminum foil wrapping, and I was feeling weak. So I just had a nibble of buttery bun. Inside were big, tender pieces of fresh lobster, lightly seasoned with celery salt and pepper. Mayo made only the briefest appearance, a mere scraping. But the time I reached home my roll was all gone, and I promptly went back for another one. My snacking associate kindly placed the order, sparing me the indignity of seeming a woman obsessed. This time I had a crab roll, which was almost as delicious as the lobster roll, though not quite.
Did I mention I hardly ever eat seafood? In fact I had wondered if Luke’s Lobster was a wobbly proposition, when I spotted the Coming Soon sign, with its hand-drawn smiling lobster, tacked on a hole-in-the-wall next to Caracas Arepa Bar. After all, lobster is pretty expensive, maybe not ideal street fare from a little takeout spot. But on Thursday, as I threaded through a pack of foodies eager for Luke’s opening day, I thought there might be something to operating a lobster shack in the East Village. For one thing, although I’m hardly an expert, the tastiness of the lobster spoke for itself. For another, it cost half as much as it would elsewhere in the city. A 2oz lobster roll (maybe 4 inches) ran $8 and a 4oz roll was $14. My 2oz crab roll was only $5. Restauranteur Luke Holden ships his lobster wholesale from Maine, where his father owns a seafood plant, which may account for the low prices and freshness (according to NYmag, it takes 1.5 to 3 days for the lobsters to travel from the ocean to bun). Also, never underestimate the advantage of being open late on weekends on this stretch of East 7th street. I can easily foresee making a quick detour some evening, after a couple of drinks have loosened my hold on my wallet, and filled my head with strange ideas, and once-in-a-blue-moon cravings. Hopefully this winter has some clam chowder or lobster bisque in store.
Luke’s Lobster
93 E 7th St. between First Avenue and Avenue A
Sun-Wed 11am-12am, Thurs-Sat 11am-2am
Think Coffee serves a mean cappuccino any day, but their iced cappuccino is My Drink for the summer. This beverage consists of 3 shots of espresso mixed with a little cold milk (to avoid plastic cup meltage), a bunch of ice, and lots of fluffy foamed milk spooned over top. The fusion of warm foam settling over ice cubes is not to be missed, so be sure to grab yours off the counter as soon as it’s ready. While it’s not technically on the menu—the chalkboard lists an “iced latte” which contains more milk and less foam—it has quite a few fans. “This is my favorite drink to make,” said the barista during my last visit.
There are other coffeeshops that I like, such as Abraco and Ninth Street Espresso, but I generally don’t linger there. At Think, however, sometimes I’ll settle in and do some reading. If you can tolerate the top 40 they play on weekends, it’s the kind of roomy, laid-back corner locale that seems to invite hanging out in blast of the A/C, or grabbing a chair outside to muse over the yuppified shell of CBGBs. Often enough, there’s someone with a lot of bags who seems to have set up a temporary office/rsidence, although there’s no free wifi at the Bowery location. You have to head over to the Mercer Street locale, deep in NYU country, to have webernets with your Think Coffee.
As for the menu, the coffee is organic and fair trade, and the bagels are the first thing they run out of (around 10:30am). Later in the day Think servers tolerable pre-made sandwiches (about $7), including mozzarella and tomato, hummus and vegetables, and swiss and prosciutto, or toasted cheese made-to-order. A number of diet-busting treats, like rugelah, brownies, and pecan pie, are in regular supply. In the evening they server beer and wine, with $3 pints during happy hour from 7-8. Recently, the listed beer was the mighty tasty Sixpoint Sweet Action.
Think Coffee
1 Bleecker St. (corner of Bowery & Bleecker)
Also: 248 Mercer St. (between 3rd St. & 4th St.)
Mon-Fri 7am-11:30pm Sat & Sun: 8am-11:30pm
Just a brief mention in this week’s New York Magazine restaurant openings roundup, but it looks like Baoguette, a Lexington Avenue shop serving up hearty $5 bahn mi, is opening a second location on St. Mark’s Place (in what was once Bamn Automat). I had a few quibbles with my sandwich from the Lex Ave location, but Baogette is sure to be a boon to the food-court fare on this stretch of St. Mark’s (possibly the only place in nyc where with a Red Mango sits across the street from a Pinkberry, locked in a fro-yo staredown).
Macarons are not macaroons. Those dense, coconut-cluster snacks have nothing on these French confections. One bite reveals the layers–a light whipped cream, sandwiched between two puffed pastries, whose sugary shells cracks and melts merengue-like on your tongue, while inside remains moist and chewy. Macarons come in an endless variety of pastel shades and flavors, from always-popular fruit like strawberry and key lime, to hazelnut, caramel, and chocolate.
A fail-safe spot to procure my favorite treats is Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warener Center. Bouchon feel something like a secret, as its situated up two escalators in the middle of an upscale mall. But neither the takeout window, nor the sit-down dining section deals in your standard food court fare. Lunch-friendly prepared sandwiches, like ham and emmenthaler on fresh-baked bread, as well as buttery spinach quiche and watercress salads are available, and priced lower than you might from the chef/owner of the French Laundry and Per Se. However, the baked goods–eclairs, tarts, croissants, brioche, and homemade-oreo “TKO cookies” are where it’s at. As for the macarons, try the raspberries and champagne, nutella, and caramel flavors ($2.75/each). But beware of the passionfruit variety, unless you like your cream filling eye-wateringly tart. Lest your pooch feel left out, foie gras-enriched dog treats are available.
Bouchon Bakery
Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle 3rd Floor
Mon-Sat 11:30am-9pm, Sun 11:30am-7pm
I’ve been ogling blow-ups of Dunkin’ Donuts new waffle breakfast sandwich since they started appearing around town, even though I was certain it was bound to be a let-down. I’m not knocking Dunkin’ out of sheer snack snobbery. After-school sojourns to the drive-thru for creamy-sweet coffees are what got me hooked on caffeine back in high school. But the donuts and breakfast sandwiches always had a slightly stale taste, like dashed expectations thrown in a microwave. This morning though, on day eleven of the cold from hell, my resistance crumbled and I found myself standing in a Dunkin Donuts, ordering a #8 combo–a waffle sandwich with medium coffee ($3.99).
The 410-calorie count made sense as I tore the paper away, revealing a sandwich no bigger than my palm, flattened between two slightly-soggy waffles. On the plus side, the waffles were subtly sweetened with maple, the bacon was actually crispy on the edges, the eggs were not nearly as rubbery as I’ve had in many a fast-food breakfast sandwich, and the American cheese was–well, orange and inoffensive. By the time I was finished I felt a surprisingly satisfied. I have to admit, in a pinch or far from Manhattan, I’d order this again.
Seriouseats.com does a side-by-side comparison of the Dunkin’ waffle sandwich and the McGriddle.
Dunkin Donuts 166 2nd Ave – open 24 hours